Method of manufacturing semiconductor devices

Abstract

In semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices, a zirconium source having zirconium, carbon and nitrogen is provided onto a substrate to form an adsorption layer of the zirconium source on the substrate. A first purging process is performed to remove a non-adsorbed portion of the zirconium source. An oxidizing gas is provided onto the adsorption layer to form an oxidized adsorption layer of the zirconium source on the substrate. A second purging process is performed to remove a non-reacted portion of the oxidizing gas. A nitriding gas is provided on the oxidized adsorption layer to form a zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer on the substrate, and a third purging process is provided to remove a non-reacted portion of the nitriding gas.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority under 35 USC §119 to Korean Patent Application No. 2008-23059, filed on Mar. 12, 2008, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.BACKGROUND[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]Example embodiments relate to semiconductor devices having a dielectric layer of a high dielectric constant and to a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]As a result of semiconductor devices becoming more highly integrated, the area of a unit cell has been significantly reduced, and also the operational voltage has been lowered as well. Accordingly, a dielectric layer having a high dielectric constant (high-k) has been applied to the semiconductor devices to enhance electrical storage performance and / or to suppress leakage current through the dielectric layer.[0006]Generally, a high-k dielectric layer has a thin equivalent oxide thickness and a high die...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Example embodiments may provide methods of manufacturing the semiconductor device including a high dielectric layer, which may have a high dielectric constant and reduce generation of a leakage current through a crystallization portion of the dielectric layer.

[0011]Example embodiments may also provide semiconductor devices including a high dielectric layer, which may have a high dielectric constant and reduce generation of a leakage current through a crystallization portion of the dielectric layer.

[0025]Furthermore, the zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer may have a reduced equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) and a high dielectric constant. Therefore, a dimension of a dielectric layer in a device may be reduced, and a highly-integrated device having an increased number of cells may be manufactured.

[0026]Additionally, the zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer may be formed to have sub-layers of various compositions by an ALD process using different process conditions. Such a zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer may not be readily crystallized during a thermal process due to non-uniformity of the compositions of the sub-layers, and thus a generation of a leakage current from the dielectric layer may also be reduced. Further, the dielectric constant of the dielectric layer may be simply adjusted by changing process conditions of each cycle in an ALD process. Therefore, the zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer may be properly employed in various devices or logics. The zirconium carbo-oxynitride layer may also be applied to a dielectric layer between a floating gate and a control gate in a flash memory device to improve the coupling ratio of the flash memory device.

Problems solved by technology

When crystallization of a dielectric layer occurs, a threshold voltage of a gate may not be uniform along a channel length, and a leakage current deteriorating reliability of a semiconductor device may be generated.

However, a zirconium oxide layer may have some difficulties with regard to deteriorating characteristics of a semiconductor device.

Therefore, when a zirconium oxide dielectric layer is used, an increase in temperature in a thermal process may be limited.

Images